Projected lines, pairings for Bruins vs. Capitals Game 5 originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The Washington Capitals will host the Boston Bruins with their season on the line Sunday night at Capital One Arena.
A win for the Bruins in Game 5 of their first-round series would eliminate the Capitals from the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Boston has won the last three games of the series, including the last two at TD Garden in Boston. The series began with three overtime matchups before the B’s dominated Game 4 in a 4-1 victory.
Superstar Charlie McAvoy is Bruins’ most important player in playoffs
There is one lineup change of note for the Bruins. Veteran defenseman Jarred Tinordi is going to replace the injured Kevan Miller, B’s head coach Bruce Cassidy said Sunday. Miller left Game 4 and was transported to a Boston hospital for evaluation after taking a high hit from Capitals defenseman Dmitry Orlov in the second period of Game 4.
Tuukka Rask will start in net for the B’s. He has a .930 save percentage in the series. Ilya Samsonov was the first goalie off the ice at Sunday’s morning skate, per Samantha Pell of the Washington Post. Samsonov is expected to make his third consecutive start of the series.
Here are the projected lines and pairings for Bruins vs. Capitals Game 5.
BOSTON BRUINS
FORWARDS
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–David Pastrnak
Taylor Hall–David Krejci–Craig Smith
Nick Ritchie–Charlie Coyle–Jake DeBrusk
Sean Kuraly–Curtis Lazar–Chris Wagner
DEFENSEMEN
Matt Grzelcyk–Charlie McAvoy
Mike Reilly–Brandon Carlo
Connor Clifton–Jarred Tinordi
GOALIES
Tuukka Rask (starter), Jeremy Swayman (backup)
WASHINGTON CAPITALS
FORWARDS
Alexander Ovechkin–Nicklas Backstrom–Anthony Mantha
Daniel Sprong–Evgeny Kuznetsov–Tom Wilson
Conor Sheary–Lars Eller–T.J. Oshie
Carl Hagelin–Nic Dowd–Garnet Hathaway
DEFENSEMEN
Dmitry Orlov–John Carlson
Brenden Dillon–Justin Schultz
Zdeno Chara–Nick Jensen
GOALIES
Ilya Samsonov (starter), Craig Anderson/Pheonix Copley (backup)